FT 

MEADE 


TE 24 
. T2 A5 
1911 
Copy 1 


Special Message 

of ,, 

jov. Malcolm R. Patterson 




State 


Highway Commission and 
Road Improvement 
in Tennessee 



To 

The Fifty-Seventh General Assembly 
State of Tennessee 


January 10, 1911 

//—33 off 





/ 




SPECIAL MESSAGE 

OF 

Gov. Malcolm R. Patterson 


State Highway Commission 
and Road Improvement in 
Tennessee 


To The Honorable Members of the Senate and House of Represen¬ 
tatives: 

On my recommendation, the Act of 1909, Ch. 561, passed 
May 1st, 1909, approved May 1st, 1909, was passed by the last 
Legislature providing for a State Highway Commission, whose 
duty was to consider the general subject of improving our pub¬ 
lic road system and to make report to the General Assembly. 
Acting under the authority of this Law, I appointed the Hon. 
E. C. Lewis, of Nashville, as Chairman, the Hon. W. J. Oliver, 
of Knoxville, and the Hon. H. W. Brennan, of Memphis, as the 
other members of the Board. 

They have brought to the study of this question a very high 
order of skill and ability, unselfishly and patriotically giving 
their time and labor without any compensation whatsoever. 

Whether in your wisdom you should see fit to adopt all the 
recommendations of these gentlemen, their views are entitled 
to receive, and I am sure will receive, that earnest and careful 
consideration at your hands which the vital importance of the 
subject deserves, and I trust that from their suggestions and 
your own investigations some plan may be devised which will 


1 




at the earliest possible time give to the people a modem and 
practical plan of good road construction which will supersede 
our present useless and antiquated system. 

In view of the necessity for a change, the general interest 
and the urgent needs of the people, I have concluded to lay 
before your honorable bodies the reports of the Highway 
Commission at the earliest possible time and in a separate 
message, reserving other recommendations for a general message 
which will be presented later to your honorable bodies. 

The subject of good roads is in no sense partisan or political, 
but appeals to all classes for all will share in the incalculable 
benefits which will be sure to follow intelligent and well directed 
legislation. 

I now transmit: 

1st. The general report of the whole Committee signed by 
all the members thereof and marked Exhibit “A.” 

2d. The special report of Hon. N. W. Brennan, marked 
Exhibit “B.” 

3d. Suggestions for a road law or laws marked Exhibit “C.” 

All of which I incorporate as part of this message, and I 
respectfully request that a sufficient number of copies be printed, 
as may be necessary for the full information of all who are 
making a study of the good roads question. 

As Governor, I desire to return to the members of the Board 
my thanks for the valuable public service they have rendered 
the State. 

Malcolm R. Patterson, 

Governor. 


2 


Exhibit “A.” 


PUBLIC ROADS COMMISSION OF TENNESSEE. 


Nashville, Tenn., Dec. 22, 1910. 
Hon. Malcolm R. Patterson , 

Governor , Nashville , Tenn. 

Dear Sir: 

By Act of the fifty-sixth General Assembly of Tennessee 
a State Highway Commission was provided for, to which was 
assigned the duty of suggesting a system of highways for the 
State, and, it is assumed, implied the further obligation as to 
how and under what form of law such a system might be adopted, 
built or acquired and maintained. 

The Commission you were pleased to appoint begs to sub¬ 
mit its reports, accompanied by a road map of the State, showing 
the several kinds of roads it is suggested might be adopted as 
routes for highways for the State proper, for the districts or for 
the respective counties, together with a comprehensive sugges¬ 
tion, which is submitted as a draft for a serviceable highway 
law which the Commission believes will, in time deemed reason¬ 
able, give to the State a system of highways and provide for 
their maintenance. 

The probable mileage and estimated cost of the several 
grades of roads embraced in the suggested system is shown 
herein. Inasmuch as no appropriation was made for the 
expense of gathering the data, herewith submitted, it is neces¬ 
sarily approximate in its nature, as without appropriations, 
no engineers could be employed to actually survey and estimate 
the location and cost of the several highways suggested. How¬ 
ever, the Commission, happily, being composed of men, each 
reasonably familiar with the Geographical Division of the 
State for which he was appointed, and, to a considerable degree, 
with road building in all its detail, feels the estimates submitted 
will be approximately near the cost, in both time and money, 
to the State if the affairs of the Highway Commission are put 


3 



into competent and patriotic hands. The crude, unintelligent 
and expensive plans heretofore employed should be abandoned 
and the system herewith submitted should be made a base to 
determine, as the suggested law provides, through a permanent 
State Highway Commission, a complete system of highways. 
This permanent commission should be provided with ample 
appropriations to carry out the plan it may determine after 
careful, personal examinations and accurate surveys of the 
entire State. 

The topography, geology and commerce of the State of 
Tennessee are so variable, containing, as it does, within its 
boundary, the exaggerated altitudes and full formations of 
the mountainous division in the East, with all varieties of 
products and commerce; the composite lay of the fertile Middle 
Section, with an equally comprehensive commerce, and the 
alluvial Western portion, embracing its large traffic, though 
fewer commodities—each section of the State being so different 
in highway requirements, construction and maintenance, that 
no set style of road is recommended for any particular portion 
of the State, nor for the whole, it being deemed best to lodge 
full power in the permanent Commission, provided for under 
the proposed law, to determine and execute the various details 
of road construction and maintenance as in their judgment 
may best serve the requirement and economies of the whole. 

The Commission finds the General Government through its 
Agricultural Department, is giving a great deal of attention 
to the matter of roads throughout the country—that so far 
only experimental pieces of roads have been built under the 
direction of said department—that instructors, engineers and 
speakers have been furnished by the department to attend the 
principal Good Roads Conventions, but that so far only a 
campaign of education has been attempted by the General 
Government. 

The Commission, through personal interviews with members 
of Congress and the Senate, as well as heads of departments 
and Government engineers, discovers that no appropriations 
have latterly been made by the General Government to build 
roads or aid in building them, except on Government reservations; 
that the lack of constitutional provision is advanced by many 
members, and that only for post roads is it deemed probable 


4 


that the Government may aid in the construction and mainte¬ 
nance of the highways throughout the country. To be sure, 
these post roads so nearly cover the whole system of highways 
desired, it would seem the aid of the National Government 
may yet be enlisted for the desired end. 

Accompanying this report is Scarbrough’s Comprehensive 
Road Map of Tennessee. It shows each county, city, town, 
river and road in the State, with tabulated list of the voting 
population of each county, and all the towns and cities of the 
State with the voting population of each county, and all the 
towns and cities of the State with the population of each under 
the 1900 census. 

A route of a suggested State highway system has been laid 
down in green on said map as your Commission’s idea as near 
the desirable lines to be adopted. 

Beginning at Memphis—running through— 


Somerville, 

Crossville, 

Jackson, 

Rockwood, 

Lexington, 

Harriman, 

Linden, 

Oliver Springs, 

Hohenwald, 

Knoxville, 

Columbia, 

Jefferson City, 

Franklin, 

Morristown, 

Nashville, 

Bulls Gap, 

Murfreesboro, 

Greeneville, 

Woodbury, 

Jonesboro, 

McMinnville, 

Johnson City, 

Sparta, 

Elizabethton, 

Bluff City—to Bristol- 

-a distance of 500 miles. 


From Memphis, it is suggested, a branch highway should be 
built to the Mississippi line. 

From Jackson a branch highway via Humboldt, Trenton, 
Rutherford and Union City to the Kentucky State line near 
Hickman, in the direction of St. Louis, Mo. 

From Columbia a branch should be built to the Alabama 
State line, via Lewisburg and Fayetteville, in the direction of 
Huntsville, Ala. 

From Nashville, a branch should be built to the Kentucky 
State line, via Clarksville, in the direction of Hopkinsville, Ky., 
and Evansville, Ind. 


5 


From Nashville, a branch should be built, via Gallatin and 
Mitchellville, to the Kentucky State line, in the direction of 
Louisville, Ky. 

From McMinnville, a branch should be built via Dunlap and 
Daisy to Chattanooga, and on to the Georgia State line, in the 
direction of Atlanta, Ga. 

From Greeneville, a branch should be built to the North 
Carolina line in the direction of Hot Springs, N. C. 


Total State Highways: 

Main Highway, Memphis to Bristol.500 Miles 

Memphis to Mississippi Line. 12 Miles 

Jackson to Kentucky line, North. 62 Miles 

Columbia to Alabama line, South. 55 Miles 

Nashville to Kentucky line, West. 60 Miles 

Nashville to Kentucky line, North. 50 Miles 

McMinnville to Chattanooga. 60 Miles 

Chattanooga to Georgia line. 7 Miles 

Greeneville to North Carolina line. 20 Miles 

Total.826 Miles 


It is estimated this highway should be built for $2,400,000.00 
using in part such roads as are now suitable to become a part 
thereof. 

For inter-county roads, each of the counties will require an 
average of 50 miles, making 4,800 miles, and for county roads 
proper, likely about the same mileage, viz.: 4,800. 

It is estimated the 4,800 miles of inter-county roads would 
cost, if built entirely on new lines, $2,000.00 per mile. However, 
as the present country roads and turnpikes occupy desirable 
routes that should be adopted as a whole or in part to complete 
a permanent highway system, it is estimated $500.00 per mile, 
judiciously expended, would turn these roads into permanent 
ones. And so, for the county road proper, a similar cost of 
$500.00 per mile, should give each county sufficient roads, the 
districts providing the more local roads in their own time and 


way. 

The State Highway. 826 Miles, Estimated Cost, $2,400,000 

Inter-county Roads. . . .4,800 Miles, Estimated Cost, 2,400,000 
County Roads.4,800 Miles, Estimated Cost, 2,400,000 

10,426 Miles, Estimated Cost, $7,200,000 

6 
















which, if built in ten years, will require $720,000.00 per annum. 

These 10,426 miles will, when completed, cost annually to 
maintain about $600,000.00. It now costs the people of the 
State of Tennessee, in labor, road tax, teams and material, about 
$3,000,000.00 annually to keep up its inadequate and unsatis¬ 
factory roads. 

The Commission urgently recommends: 

That State-wide laws be passed, permitting counties to issue 
bonds for road purposes. 

That a State Highway from Memphis to Bristol be built at 
the expense of the State, with such branches as the Highway 
Commission may recommend. 

That the State convicts shall be used in highway construc¬ 
tion, both State and county; only convicts whose health, age 
and other personal conditions fit them for road work to go or 
remain at any road working camp or quarters; and 

That the relation of the width of the tire of wheels to the 
heft of the load on public highways, be given attention by the 
law makers and that a law be passed wherein it shall be provided 
that only tire of standard width in proportion to the load, deter¬ 
mined with consideration for the least wear on the surfaces of 
the State roads, shall be permitted the use of said roads. 

That no man be required to perform duty on public roads 
until he has been a resident of district in which this service is 
required one year. 

Your Commission begs to express the hope it entertains 
and makes an earnest plea for the co-operation of all the people 
of Tennessee, that this matter of road building and maintenance 
be soon satisfactorily systematized, so that a beneficial end may 
result and the State take its rank among the well developed and 
advancing States of the Union. 

All of which is 

Respectfully submitted, 

(Signed) W. J. Oliver, East Tennessee, 

(By H. W. Brennan) 

E. C. Lewis, Middle Tennessee, 

H. W. Brennan, West Tennessee, 
Commissioners . 


7 


Exhibit “B.” 


SPECIAL REPORT 

PUBLIC ROADS COMMISSION OF TENNESSEE. 

PROPOSED PUBLIC ROAD LEGISLATION. 


Gov. M. R. Patterson , 

State Capitol , 

Nashville , Tenn. 

Honorable Sir: 

The ideal in Public Road Legislation would be the greatest 
blessing the Legislature could confer on the citizens of Tennessee. 

In its main features the majority report of the Commission, 
filed at this time, provides for the ideal, and in this aspect meets 
my approval. However, great public changes usually occur by 
easy steps, following the natural law of pushing out only at the 
points of least resistance; therefore, believing ultimately a per¬ 
fect system of good roads and a complete system of Public Road 
Laws can be obtained through progression rather than radicalism 
in legislation, and believing that the greatest advance along this 
line for the present can be accomplished by asking for reason¬ 
able legislation, rather than for the ideal, I have the honor to 
submit for your consideration the following discussion: 

The general subject of needed public road legislation can be 
considered under five heads, namely: 

1. State Aid. 

2. State Highway System. 

3. State Highway Commission, 

4. County Public Road Bond Issues, 

5. Amendment to the present Road Working Law. 

State Aid. 

The State aid principle has been accepted by the most 
progressive States of the Union, and is in practical effect through¬ 
out the countries of the civilized world. The State aid idea 
is founded upon several common-sense principles: 


8 




First, the State can borrow money at a less rate of interest 
than can the county, and every dollar saved on interest means 
a dollar saved to the tax payers of the State at large. 

Second, State aid does more to stimulate public road con¬ 
struction, with a uniform degree of activity throughout the 
State, than does any other known form of State legislation; 
thereby bringing about the identical object for which the State 
aid principle is applied, namely, that of inducing counties 
to build good roads. 

The State aid principle, as related to the aid given by the 
State to the counties of certain sums of money in aid of county 
road construction, becomes more advisable as the wealth of 
the State per square mile of its area increases. Under this 
view, a very wealthy State can easily afford to pay one-third 
of the cost of the construction of county roads; on the other 
hand, such liberal aid would be impossible with a sparsely 
settled State. To illustrate this point, assume that one State 
had only one inhabitant and that a poor man; such a State 
could build no roads. Considering this fact in connection with 
the limited means of Tennessee, it is necessary to devise a 
State aid plan, which will accomplish the desired result of 
stimulating activity in public road construction, and yet one 
that will be possible out of the limited revenue of the State of 
Tennessee. 

The Convict Problem .—Taken in connection with the State 
aid principle, there can be worked out a reasonable solution 
of the ever vexatious problem, what to do with the State con¬ 
victs, so as to remove their labor from competition with that 
of free men. The proposition to lend convicts to the counties 
of the State for public road work is not an economical one, for 
the reason it is cheaper to maintain and work convicts at per¬ 
manently located camps rather than in moving ones. 

I therefore recommend that the State of Tennessee gradually 
withdraw its convicts from the State coal mines, and that the 
labor of these men be used in applying the State aid principle 
of giving aid to counties in the construction of county roads, 
on the following basis, namely: 

That the State acquire stone quarry sites and paving chert 
deposits at various locations within the State, which locations 


9 


have strategic value from a transportation standpoint; the 
stone quarries to be selected where stone of suitable quality 
is available and chert deposits, where available,and in the absence 
of stone. This plan will probably require ten operations, so 
that the transportation of the stone and chert products to 
every county in the State will be reduced to a minimum. Each 
of such operations would require from twenty-five to one hundred 
and fifty convicts. The products from these quarries 

AND CHERT PITS TO BE LOADED F. O. B. CARS AT THE PITS AND 
PRESENTED TO THE COUNTIES OF THE STATE, EITHER IN PRO¬ 
PORTION TO THE REVENUE WHICH EACH COUNTY CONTRIBUTES 

to the state. This system to be installed by easy stages so 
as not to embarass the State in the ultimate disposition of its 
coal properties. 

This plan seems strong from several standpoints: 

ist. There is a deep seated prejudice in the minds of the 
citizens of Tennessee against convict labor competing with 
that of free men. This plan would accomplish the solution to 
this problem for at least 50% of the State’s convicts, and yet 
would not disturb the present system of leasing convicts, now 
in vogue at the State penitentiary, whereby many men are 
learning to be skilled artisans, and who will consequently be 
better fitted to earn an honorable living when discharged. For 
the present, this plan would be of splendid aid and encourage¬ 
ment to the counties in the building of public roads, and would 
ALSO BE ENTIRELY WITHIN THE MEANS OF THE STATE TO BEAR. 

This system would also obviate the present prejudice against 
placing too much authority on the shoulders of the, proposed 
State Highway Commission in the handling and disbursement 
of public funds. Every county would get its just share of 
road building material. The execution of this plan should 
be placed entirely in the hands of the State Highway Commission. 

State Highway System. 

The Theory .—The theory upon which the progressive States 
of the Union are constructing systems of State highways is: 

That the Federal Government will eventually take 

OVER AND MAINTAIN AS A NATIONAL HIGHWAY SYSTEM, ALL 

State highways which are interstate in their character. 


10 


Onrushing public sentiment, which is daily gaining force in a 
demand for a National highway system, cannot be resisted 
by Congress longer than ten more years, and at that time the 
burden of maintaining these long distance highways will be 
entirely taken over by the National Government. 

The Routes .—State highways should follow the lines of 
densest population, regardless of directness; therefore, the 
first Tennessee highway should extend from Memphis to 
Nashville, thence to Knoxville via Chattanooga, ending at 
Bristol; and should not be located from Nashville crossing 
the Cumberland Plateau to Rockwood, for the reason that the 
density of population over this route is entirely disproportionate 
to the expense of maintaining the road. 

Long distance highways must be of sufficient value to the 
immediate territory traversed to absolutely justify the cost of 
construction and maintenance, and such long distance pleasure 
driving as will be done, should be a secondary consideration 
in the location of State highway. 

All progressive States now have on foot in various stages 
of realization ( State highway projects, so that within a very 
few years it will be possible to go from one to any other popula¬ 
tion center of the United States over continuous highways 
of easy grades, thorough construction and properly maintained. 

From a strip of territory within twenty miles of the above 
proposed route, the State of Tennessee now derives 92% of 
the State’s entire revenue from counties. Again, of the ninety- 
six counties of Tennessee, four, namely, Shelby, Davidson, 
Hamilton and Knox, pay 48% of .the State’s entire revenue 
derived from counties, so it will be clearly understood that the 
four counties above named will pay one-half of the cost, and 
practically every cent of the remainder of the cost of the proposed 
State highway will be assessed against the territory traversed 
by such a road. 

The cost of the State highway should be entirely borne 
by the State so that no one county, by refusing to co-operate, 
could defeat the project, and for the further reason that the 
most expensive construction occurs in the poorest counties; 
and for the further reason that it would be unconstitutional to 
tax the abutting property with the cost. 


11 


- The task of locating and constructing the proposed State 
highway roads should be assigned absolutely to the proposed 
State Highway Commission. Inasmuch as the State is not 
ready at this moment to make an appropriation of several 
million dollars to cover the construction, in a first class manner, 
of the proposed State highways, I recommend: 

First, That the State declare its purpose to construct a 
system of State Highways. 

Second, That the proposed State Highway Commission be 
instructed to immediately perform the engineering and other 
work necessary to the selection of routes, together with the 
preparation of careful estimates on costs, all for submission 
to the Legislature of 1913. 

Third, That the State Highway Commission be authorized 
to officially select highway routes, and that all routes so selected 
by them be placarded with sign boards so stating, to the end 
that various counties of the State, once sure of the permanency 
of these routes, will gradually work along these lines, thereby 
reducing the ultimate cost of construction to the State. 

While an annual working period for the free construction 
of a State highway is a most excellent idea, yet the citizens of 
Tennessee desire that these highways be strictly first class in 
location, grades, construction and maintenance, to accomplish 
which it will ultimately be necessary to expend several million 
dollars. 


The State Highway Commission. 

I recommend the establishment of a permanent State 
Highway Commission, to be composed, as at present, of three 
members, one from each of the grand divisions of the State; 
that the chairman of this Commission, who must necessarily 
be a man of good executive ability, shall be paid a salary of 
$3,000.00 a year, and that the other two members be each paid 
$1,500.00 per year, and that a State engineer be employed by 
this Commission, whose salary shall not exceed $3,000.00 per 
year. 

I recommend that the State engineer shall not be a member 
of the Commission, for the reason that should his services be 


12 


unsatisfactory, the Commission must be in a position to discharge 
him. The Commission must have a secretary whose salary 
should not exceed $1,200.00 per annum, and all members should 
be allowed traveling expenses when away from their headquarters 
on business of the Commission. 

The State Highway Commission should be charged with the 
following duties: 

First , With furnishing engineering advice as to the location 
of roads, and specifications for the construction of roads, to 
the various counties of the State, without charge to the counties. 
By this method, it will be possible to gradually standardize 
road construction throughout the State. 

Second, With compiling a map of the State showing and 
classifying all public roads, and with the collection of all data 
pertaining to public road construction, all of which is to be 
distributed free throughout the State in the form of periodical 
bulletins. 

Third, With the selection of routes for the proposed State 
highways, together with having made all necessary surveys, 
etc., all for submission as above to the Legislature of 1913. 

Fourth, With the operation of the above proposed plan of 
producing with convict labor road paying products for free 
distribution to the counties: The convicts so used, to be under 
the jurisdiction of the Prison Commissioners as at present. 

In order to overcome any hesitancy on the part of the 
Legislature in entrusting all of these operations to one Commis¬ 
sion, it would probably be sensible to provide the public with 
a right of appeal from any action of the Commission to an Appel¬ 
late Board, to be composed of the Governor of the State,together 
with two other members to be appointed by him. 


County Public- Road Bond Issues. 

I recommend an Act authorizing every county in the State 
to issue bonds for the purpose of constructing county roads 
to the extent of 10% of the assessed value of the property therein. 
Such a law is very necessary to facilitate the construction of 
public roads in Tennessee for two reasons, namely: 

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(1) Should a county decide in 1911 to construct roads, it 
must wait two years before getting authority from the Legislature 
to issue road bonds. 

(2) ' Before an issue of county road bonds can now be sold, 
it is necessary that the Act be passed upon by an expert bond 
attorney, and many such enabling Acts have been declared 
void by such attorneys, thereby bonds being rendered unsalable, 
and delaying the proposed work. 

Amendment To The Present Road Working Law. 

I recommend the absolute repeal of the present feature of 
the Tennessee Road Law, under which citizens between certain 
ages are now required to annually work the public roads. This 
recommendation is based on the failure of the present law to 
get results anything like commensurate with the expenditure 
of time and money. However, if this feature cannot be repealed 
entirely, it should be amended so as to require no one to work 
the public roads until after having resided one year within the 
district in which this service is required. 

The above outlined plan in condensed form can be summed 
up as follows: 

(1) No infringement occurs on the internal government of 
the counties; the recommendations therein contained only 
act to the extent of making contributions by the State to the 
counties. 

(2) While a nominal appropriation would be required at 
this time, yet no expenditure of any great sum is advised. 

(3) The State aid principle to counties in the construction 
of county roads is combined with a partial solution of the convict 
labor problem in a plan which only involves true economy and 
progressive legislation. 

(4) It is of patent necessity that a general law be passed 
authorizing counties to issue road bonds to the extent of 10% 
of the assessed value of the property therein. 

(5) A State Highway Commission and a State Highway 
System should be made permanent fixtures. 

(6) The present feature of the State Road Law, requiring 


14 


men between certain ages to work the county roads for a certain 
period during each year, should at least be changed so that a 
person will have to be a resident of the district in which he is 
wanted to work the road, for one year before being called on 
for this service. 

In conclusion, I wish to go on record as approving the major¬ 
ity report of this Commission as an ultimate end towards which 
to work, but, for the present, I only recommend as above, 
believing, as I do, from conversations with many practical 
citizens of our State, that the plans therein suggested would 
meet with public approval. 

Permit me to thank you for the honor of having served the 
State of Tennessee on its initial State Highway Commission, 
and to express my appreciation of your splendid initiative 
and persistent efforts which have unquestionably produced 
the present remarkable and State-wide interest in the public 
road problems of Tennessee. 

I have the honor to be, 

Yours very respectfully, 

(Signed) H. W. Brennan, 

West Tennessee Member of 
Public Roads Commission of Tennessee. 

December 22, 1910. 


15 


Exhibit “C.” 


Suggestions for a Law Relating to a System of 
Public Roads in Tennessee. 


Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ten¬ 
nessee, that there shall be and is hereby created, a State Com¬ 
mission of Roads, to consist of one member from each of the 
three grand divisions of the State, and one from the State at 
large, which latter shall be a civil engineer, experienced in the 
practice and science of road making and maintenance, and who 
shall be Chairman of the Commission, with the title of State 
Engineer. 

The Commissioners shall be appointed by the Governor, 
the State Engineer for a term of four years, and the Commis¬ 
sioners, first for terms of two, four and six years, respectively, 
in the order first named, and afterwards for terms of four years 
each. 

The salary of the State Engineer shall be $3,000.00 per annum, 
including expenses other than ordinary. He shall give his 
entire time to the State and counties on road work. The salaries 
of the other members of the Commission shall be $1,500.00 
per annum, including expenses, incurred in the performance 
of their duties. 

Upon appointment and qualification by taking an oath to 
properly and faithfully perform the duties assigned by this 
act, the Commissioners shall organize, as provided, and shall 
appoint a secretary, whose duty it shall be to keep all accounts 
and correspondence, and perform the usual duties of a secretary, 
at a salary of $1000.00 per annum. 

The principal office of the Road Commission shall be at 
Nashville, but it is hereby made obligatory on the Commission 
to first visit each county seat in the State, and to meet in session 
at least once each year, for such time as the work in hand may 
require, at each of the following points: 

Wartburg Chattanooga Sparta Bolivar Jackson 

Jonesboro j Tullahoma Columbia Dyersburg Paris and 

Knoxville Carthage Linden Memphis Clarksville 


16 



for the purpose of becoming perfectly familiar with the road 
requirements for the respective sections, of which the above 
named points are assumed to be centers, and carefully study 
the roads and the road requirements of the entire State, so as 
to intelligently provide and maintain a complete system of 
highways. 

It shall be the duty of the Commission to prepare a system 
of roads for the entire State, embracing all the counties of the 
State, said roads to be so located as to best serve the public 
interests and provide proper transportation for traffic, trade 
and travel. 

The public roads are to be divided into five classes: 

1. Roads to be known as State roads, to be built entirely at 
the expense of the State, and to have a standard width, grade 
and character of construction, fitted to that section of the State 
in which the road lies, the material at hand and the traffic and 
travel using the road, and to be so located as to become an 
integral part of a system of Interstate or National Roads. 

2. Inter-county roads, traversing or lying in two or more 
counties, to be built at the expense of the counties through which 
said roads may be located, each county paying the expense of 
construction and maintenance of that portion within the county, 
such pro rata to be determined by the Commission. 

3. County roads, embracing roads located entirely within 
the limits of one county, to be built and maintained at that 
county’s expense. 

4. Inter-district roads, traversing or lying in two or more 
county districts, to be built at the expense of the districts within 
which said roads are located, each district paying for that por¬ 
tion of the road built and maintained within said district, or 
that proportion determined by the supervisor, hereinafter pro¬ 
vided for. 

5. District roads, embracing roads located entirely within 
the limits of one district, to be built and maintained by the dis¬ 
trict. 

After the adoption of the Road System, as hereinafter pro¬ 
vided, the Commission is empowered to purchase turnpikes 
suitably located and constructed to take the place of any class 
of road to which said pike is adapted, and to be paid for in such 


17 


manner as such class of road would be paid for, if built as pro : 
vided. It is also empowered to take in charge all public roads 
now existing in the State. 

The Commission is empowered to change the class of road 
at any time that the uses and requirements suggest, such change 
to better accommodate the traffic and travel for economic 
reasons or other causes in the interest of the State, county or 
district. 

The Commission shall prepare, by January 1, 1913, a com¬ 
plete plan and comprehensive map of a system of roads of all 
kinds and classes throughout the State, so designated by color 
or otherwise on said map as to readily distinguish the kind, 
class and character of each road in the system, and showing the 
towns or cities and principal points and neighborhoods served 
by said roads, and the amount of travel and tonnage estimated 
and shown on the map. There shall accompany said map an 
estimate of cost, in detail, of purchase or the construction, 
rebuilding or betterment of each road and for all the roads in 
each county, and of the whole system, all of which shall be sub¬ 
mitted to a board of approval, to consist of the Governor, as 
Chairman, the Secretary of State and the Comptroller of the 
State, each of whom shall be paid ten dollars for each day’s 
meeting on State road matters. Said meeting to be held in 
Nashville, as soon as the Road Commission may have completed 
their system, maps and reports. 

The cost of preparing, surveying, mapping, exhibiting and 
adopting said system of roads shall be borne by the State, and 
shall not exceed twenty-five thousand dollars. 

Upon approval by this Board, the Road Commission shall 
be empowered to proceed with the purchase, construction and 
maintenance of said system of roads, with such celerity and 
thoroughness as the appropriations made for the respective pur¬ 
poses shall permit within the time hereinafter provided. 

Whereupon an annual assessment shall be made by the Com¬ 
mission against each county in the State to furnish its pro rata 
of road to be built, bought and maintained during the year, 
with specifications of the kind, class and character of road, so 
as to complete the entire State and county highway system by 
January 1, 1923. 

Should any county furnish during any year more mileage of 

18 


road or roads than assigned by the Commission as the propor¬ 
tion of said county for that year, provided said road or roads are 
a part of the adopted road system and properly built, credit 
may be given said county on road account for the year follow¬ 
ing; but, should any county fail to furnish, during any year, the 
quota of road or roads apportioned to that county by the Com¬ 
mission, in order to complete the road system, as provided and 
adopted by the State, then the Road Commission, may proceed, 
at the expense of the State, to build or buy and maintain roads 
in said county to such an extent as to furnish said county’s 
quota of roads, the cost of which shall be a debt on said county 
due to the State of Tennessee, and shall be paid in such manner 
as the State may provide, or as herein provided. 

The Road Commission shall organize a road force in each 
county in the State, for such time as said Commission shall 
deem best, to consist of a Supervisor, who shall be a man skilled 
in road making, with such number of men, tools and teams for 
road building and repairing as the respective needs may require; 
and the Road Commission is authorized and empowered to use 
the convicts of the several counties, or of the State, as herein 
provided, both in the original construction of the public road 
system and in its maintenance. 

It shall be the duty of the supervisor to carry out the plans 
and instructions of the Road Commission relative to location, 
grade and alignment, the number of miles of each character of 
road to be built or bought in each county each year, and the 
roads to be repaired and maintained, and in what manner. 

The supervisor of roads shall have charge of all public roads 
in the county in which he has been appointed, or, if the Commis¬ 
sion so orders, he may have charge of the roads of more than one 
county. 

The supervisor may, with the approval of the Road Com¬ 
mission, appoint one or more assistants. 

The supervisor shall purchase all material and employ all 
labor, teams and tools to properly execute his trust, and be sub¬ 
ject to immediate removal for failure in any respect. 

The supervisor shall make to the Road Commission detailed 
monthly reports, covering each calendar month, of all expen¬ 
ditures of every character, and receive payments therefor from 
the trustee of the county in which the work has been done or 


19 


for which the material has been purchased, on warrant or voucher 
properly and fully setting forth the character of the work done 
or material bought, and by and whom from. He shall take 
receipt for all moneys paid over, which receipt shall be turned 
in by the supervisor to the trustee, and by him attached to the 
voucher and filed as an exhibit of expense on road account. 
Should any money or warrant for any reason be not paid over, 
the supervisor shall return the same to the trustee. 

The road supervisor shall receive two and one-half dollars 
($2.50) for each day of service rendered. The per diem of labor 
and teams, and the price paid for material shall not be more 
than is locally customary, nor the hours of service less. Pay¬ 
ments shall be made weekly. 

The provision for all road expenses shall be by appropriation. 

The manner of providing the money so required shall be by 
tax levy covering the whole State, and by counties in such pro¬ 
portion to the State and for each county, as the approved system 
of roads may require, and in such amounts annually as to insure 
the completion of the entire road system in ten years from the 
date of the adoption of the system hereby created. 

It shall be the duty of the Road Commission to determine 
for the year 0000, and regularly each succeeding year thereafter, 
the mileage of each class of road to be repaired, built or bought 
by the State or by the respective counties, and to further deter¬ 
mine the amount to be annually expended on maintenance of 
each and every State road, and how expended; also the roads of 
the counties respectively, and to make a report to the State 
comptroller, January 1, of each year, and to each county court, 
at its January term, of so much of the information as is to its 
germain. Accompanying said report shall be a requisition on 
said comptroller and on the chairman of each county court in 
the State, to provide such an amount or amounts as will pay the 
sum or sums estimated by said Commission to be the cost of 
construction or purchase and maintenance of the roads in each 
county so determined to be built, bought, bettered and main¬ 
tained, or to provide labor, free or convict, for same. 

Whereupon, it shall be the duty of said comptroller to in¬ 
clude in the budget of expense for that year such an amount as 
will pay the cost of all State road construction, betterment or 
purchase, and maintenance, for that year, and to provide funds 


20 


for the payment from taxes received for said purpose, less the 
amount estimated to be furnished in labor, free or convict, 
teams, etc. 

It shall also be the duty of the chairman of each county 
court, at the January term, to include in the expense budget for 
that county of which he is chairman, the amount so required by 
the Road Commission, for roads to be built, bettered, bought or 
maintained, that year, and it shall be the duty of the county 
court to provide said sum by appropriation out of the taxes 
levied for that year, together with such personal road service as 
is now provided under the Acts of 1901, Chapter 136, Section 5. 

The Commission shall have the right to change the location 
of any road now existing or that may be bought or built, as pro¬ 
vided for in this Act, and to secure the right-of-way therefor, as 
well as for new roads, together with gravel, stone or other road 
material, by grant, purchase or condemnation of such real estate 
as may be necessary for such road or containing good road 
material; the manner of such condemnation to be as defined in 
Sections 1325 and 1348, inclusive of the Acts of this State, same 
being incorporated in Shannon’s Code, in Sections 1844 to 1869, 
inclusive. 

That all Yoad laws now in effect in this State be in force ’til 
the adoption of road system herein provided for, whereupon, 
the Act shall take effect to the exclusion and nullification of all 
conflicting laws. 

That so much of this law as creates the Commission and 
provides for the creation and adoption of a complete system oi 
roads and the payment therefor shall take effect immediately, 
the public welfare requiring it. 

For the Commission, 

(Signed) W. J. Oliver, 

(Signed) E. C. Lewis, 

Chairman. 


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